The Santa Fe to Taos Trail is not about hikers or thru-hiking. It is about the land: the forests, the watersheds, the mountains, and all the life they hold. We are not here just to pass through and take from this place. We are here to care for it. If you come to the SF2T Trail, come as a steward. Come as a student.
The Santa Fe to Taos Trail goes from the Santa Fe Plaza to Taos Plaza over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. It is 132 miles long, spans five counties – Santa Fe, San Miguel, Mora, Rio Arriba, and Taos – and crosses the Santa Fe National Forest, The Pecos Wilderness, and Carson National Forest. The full route has 35,000 feet of cumulative ascent and descent, as both plazas are at 7,000 feet elevation.
The route is over ten years in the making, scouted and refined by Pam Neely beginning around 2014, and then first completed as a thru-hike in 2018. It has been refined several times to optimize safety and access to water. It is still being refined, with a new alternate route to be announced later this year.
Santa Fe National Forest and Carson National Forest both in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions until September 30th unless rescinded
Total registered hikers
- 128 registered groups
- 262 registered people
New Mexico hikers
- 37 groups
- 76 registered people
- 29.8% of U.S.-mapped groups
- 29.9% of U.S.-mapped people
Out-of-state U.S. hikers
- 87 groups
- 178 registered people
- 70.2% of U.S.-mapped groups
- 70.1% of U.S.-mapped people
Top states after New Mexico by groups
- Colorado: 20 groups (16.1% of U.S.-mapped groups), 39 people (15.4% of U.S.-mapped people)
- Texas: 17 groups (13.7% of U.S.-mapped groups), 27 people (10.6% of U.S.-mapped people)
- California: 12 groups (9.7% of U.S.-mapped groups), 27 people (10.6% of U.S.-mapped people)
- Arizona: 9 groups (7.3% of U.S.-mapped groups), 34 people (13.4% of U.S.-mapped people)
International hikers
- Australia: 4 people
- Mexico: 2 people
- Netherlands: 1 person
About the 2nd edition of the Santa Fe to Taos Trail Guidebook
The second edition was supposed to have come out on Monday, April 27th. I expect it to be done by mid to late May. Click here to get the details.
Maps and route
See the route page and individual section pages for details on the route and turn-by-turn directions for the route.
Presentation at the Los Alamos Mountaineers monthly meeting at the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium, Tuesday, October 28th
Huge thanks to the Mountaineers and the Nature Center for this opportunity.
Plaza to Plaza in 52 photographs
Each photograph is from one of the 50 subsections that make up the route.
